Santa Clara lines up financing for 49ers stadium

The football metaphors were flying out of Santa Clara on Friday night as city officials excitedly announced that they have secured long-awaited funding for a new 49ers stadium.

“The wind’s at our back, and we’re moving down the field,” Mayor Jamie Matthews enthused on the news that three banks – Goldman Sachs, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and U.S. Bank – have pledged a combined $850 million to help pay for the stadium whose price tag has ballooned to $1.02 billion from an estimated $854 million in 2007.

The city expects to pay back the construction loan over the next 25 years from ticket sales, rent from the football team and naming rights.

Just four years ago, the bank loan might have covered the whole cost. But the city blames inflation and stadium refinements for pushing the cost much higher.

Now, the rest of the money is expected to come from the National Football League, a hotel tax and, if available, redevelopment funds from the city. The 49ers have agreed to pay approximately $30 million a year in rent and all cost overruns.

Matthews, who confesses to being “not all that interested in football,” said he is very interested in his city’s economy. Despite the higher cost, the stadium – to be built on what is now a parking lot at the Great America amusement park – will be a boon to the region, he said.

2015 opening target

“The city will own this stadium and, after 40 years, the 49ers will have paid the equivalent of fair market rate” for what he said will be a state-of-the-art, green building that is certain to attract the Super Bowl once it’s built.

Assistant City Manager Carol McCarthy said 2015 remains the target date for opening the stadium.

“If not sooner,” she said.

Voters approved the project in June 2010, but financing was never a sure thing.

Now that the banks are on board, “this turns a great idea into a great project,” Matthews said.

NFL to kick in $150 million

The NFL is expected to contribute $150 million, with that money targeted for the whiz-bang elements of a new stadium that are lacking at Candlestick Park, the 49ers’ home since 1971.

Those include luxury suites topped with a rooftop terrace, “party plazas” above the end zones, and architect-designed seating intended to recall a Roman amphitheater.

A hotel tax is expected to generate $35 million for the project, while redevelopment funds – in doubt because of the state’s economic crisis – would provide $40 million.

“Not a dime of general fund money” will go toward the stadium, Matthews said.

Public meetings

McCarthy said the next few weeks are critical for the project, and a number of public meetings will be held, all at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 1500 Warburton Ave. in Santa Clara.

The first will be Tuesday, when Goldman Sachs arrives to make a presentation to city officials.

On Thursday, city officials will review progress on the stadium project.

And Dec. 13, the Santa Clara Stadium Authority will vote on legal relationships, a framework for stadium operations and a preliminary finance plan.

Final approval of a finance plan, development budget, stadium lease, ground lease and public safety agreement isn’t expected until spring.

The 49ers have been in San Francisco for 65 years and have won five Super Bowls. Although San Francisco city officials have said it would sting to lose the team, just 1 in 10 season-ticket holders lives in the city.